Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Game 25: Baltimore at Toronto pregame

The other day Mrs. Bastian wanted to stop in the Blue Jays gift shop here in Rogers Centre and I chuckled when I noticed that there was still a large image of A.J. Burnett on one of the windows of the stadium. It was just distorted enough, though, that it could easily also be a picture of pitcher Robert Ray, who looks like he could be A.J’s kid brother.

Ray will start for the Jays on Saturday for his Major League debut, and lefty prospect Brett Cecil will follow suit on Tuesday. This gives the Jays 3 rookies (Scott Richmond as well) and one converted reliever (Brian Tallet) in the rotation behind ace Roy Halladay. Ray and Cecil are likely temporary fill-ins.

Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi didn’t sugarcoat the situation this afternoon. When asked what he liked about Ray, Ricciardi hesitated and offered this dose of reality:

“Well, he’s healthy,” Ricciardi said. “He’s healthy and it’s his turn to throw. We like him. He’s one of our guys that we think is going to be here eventually, but he may be here too soon.”

The same goes for Cecil, who has had poor results through one month with Triple-A Las Vegas and said he has been working on finding a consistent arm slot. So far, he has struggled in that regard and the result has been a slider that has been more horizontal and a fastball that runs flat.

Ricciardi said the hope is that the Blue Jays can stay afloat with this rotation through May 11, the team’s next off-day. Then, between May 12-20, Toronto hopes to have both Ricky Romero (right oblique) and Casey Janssen (right shoulder) back in the mix. Shortly thereafter, Jesse Litsch (right forearm/elbow) may be back and Brian Tallet will likely be back in the ‘pen.

According to Ricciardi, Ray, Cecil and Tallet might each have two more starts before the club reasses its starting staff.

“In all fairness to these guys, they shouldn’t be here right now,” Ricciardi said. “We’re kind of forcing them based on circumstances. We like these guys — they’re going to be a part of what we do here — but circumstances have put us in this spot. So, for a 10-day period, we’ll just see if we can hold the fort down.”

Some other updates: Romero is scheduled to throw in a bullpen session on Saturday. He might throw another on either Monday or Tuesday, or he might begin a rehab assignment. … Litsch played catch on Friday and will be re-evaluated on Saturday. … Closer B.J. Ryan (left trapezius) will travel to the Jays’ complex in Florida after this homestand and he’ll be put on a throwing program. He isn’t throwing right now. … Beyond Ray and Cecil, the Jays also promoted reliever Brian Wolfe. Ricciardi and manager Cito Gaston said they chose Wolfe over righty Jeremy Accardo because Wolfe is more able to jump in as a long reliever. Accardo has been working one-inning outings for the most part. … Sent to Triple-A were David Purcey, Brian Burres and Bryan Bullington.

Like this:

Related

3 Comments

It will be interesting to see how the O’s hit Doc tonight, with Zaun in the lineup. I imagine that he’s probably told his new team all about Halladay’s pitches.
My guess is, even knowing what he may throw to you, you still probably can’t hit him that well. We’ll see soon.
Go Jays!

Meta

The following are trademarks or service marks of Major League Baseball entities and may be used only with permission of Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. or the relevant Major League Baseball entity: Major League, Major League Baseball, MLB, the silhouetted batter logo, World Series, National League, American League, Division Series, League Championship Series, All-Star Game, and the names, nicknames, logos, uniform designs, color combinations, and slogans designating the Major League Baseball clubs and entities, and their respective mascots, events and exhibitions.